‘Ashoka is boring, thank god’: University co-founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani on the resignation row

Ashoka University founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani addressed the row over a professor's resignation (Image credit: @sbikh/Twitter, @AshokaUniversity/Facebook)

Ashoka University founder Sanjeev Bikhchandani sought to set the record straight after Newslaundry published a piece quoting a student who criticised it as a “capitalist institute” that “boasts about its left liberal values.”

Bikhchandani said that Ashoka University does not boast of left liberal values – it is merely an institute where students can study liberal arts. The founder and trustee at Ashoka University drew a distinction between left liberal values and liberal arts as he responded to the Newslaundry piece. “Left liberal values and studying subjects that constitute liberal arts are very different. You can be right of centre and still study liberal arts,” he wrote.

Ashoka University has been at the centre of a controversy regarding academic freedom after economics professor Sabyasachi Das was allegedly told to resign in August – days after he published a research paper on possible electoral manipulation by the ruling BJP in the 2019 polls.

https://t.co/H83yU82xPE

“No matter how much Ashoka boasts about its left liberal values, but at the end of the day it is a capitalist institute…It cannot produce Bhagat Singhs or Umar Khalids.”

While I admire Bhagat Singh, as a parent do I want my son to go to the gallows at…

Related stories

• 
  Is Mumbai auto driver's Rs 8 lakh/month hustle VC fundable? Sanjeev Bikhchandani responds
• 
  Info Edge sitting on nearly 10X gains by betting Rs 3,959 crore on Zomato, PolicyBazaar, Naukri, oth...
• 
  As SSCBS graduates, we go to IIM Ahmedabad as underdogs: Gold medallists to Sanjeev Bikhchandani

— Sanjeev Bikhchandani (@sbikh) September 5, 2023

The Newslaundry piece pointed out how the university has not seen a single protest from its student body despite the row igniting a wider discussion on academic freedom in India.

Sanjeev Bikhchandani addressed the piece and the larger controversy surrounding Ashoka University in a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) this afternoon. He began his post with a direct quote from the Newslaundry piece in which an unnamed student said: “No matter how much Ashoka boasts about its left liberal values, but at the end of the day it is a capitalist institute…It cannot produce Bhagat Singhs or Umar Khalids.”

“While I admire Bhagat Singh, as a parent do I want my son to go to the gallows at the age of 22?” he asked. “I think most Ashoka parents will be relieved with this assessment of the University. Ashoka is boring - thank God.”

He also did not refute Newslaundry’s assertion about there being very few activists on campus. Instead, Bikhchandani said that parents do not pay university fee for their children to take part in campus protests and aandolans.

“Ashoka does not boast of left liberal values. Some individuals at Ashoka might be. And they might want to paint all of Ashoka in that fashion because that is what they believe,” he asserted, noting that “Ashoka is merely a liberal arts and sciences university.”

The term “left liberal” generally refers to Left-wing political ideologies combined with liberalism, which values concepts like freedom of speech, cultural tolerance, civil rights etc. On the other hand, “liberal arts” is a well-rounded education that encompasses a wide range of subjects in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

In his post, Bikhchandani said that while Ashoka values openness and a spirit of inquiry, it must guard itself against becoming an ideological ghetto.